NEW DELHI: Purchase committees of six city government-run hospitals are under the scanner of the Vigilance department for the alleged procurement of substandard medical supplies and disposable items which were used in treatment of the patients, officials said.
The members of the committees, in hospitals where irregularities have been revealed, will be questioned over their involvement in the procurement of the supplies that were unable to meet the prescribed quality standards, including implements like cotton bandages, infusion sets, latex gloves, and other disposable items, the officials added.
Officials said these committees are headed by Medical Superintendent/ Medical Director and comprise doctors, store officers, Nursing Superintendents, among others.“We will inquire with them to find out the scope of irregularities which may have been done to benefit some manufacturers. It’s a case of corruption,” a senior official said.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has already filed an FIR in the case, invoking section 7A (offence relating to public servant being bribed for doing public duty improperly) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and Section 18 of the Drugs and Cosmetic Act (dealing with prohibition of manufacture and sale of certain drugs and cosmetics), against 13 manufacturing companies and recommended to black-list them.
The six hospitals where irregularities in procurement of medical supplies were found include Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital,Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital and Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital.
According to the FIR, the health department formed a team in August 2023 to monitor activities in hospitals. Samples of cotton bandages and infusion sets collected from a hospital failed the quality tests at government-authorised laboratories. This prompted the department to widen its probe where it found similar irregularities in six hospitals.
The deputy secretary complained about the matter to the ACB and an FIR was registered on January 5. The FIR details stated that rolled bandage, absorbent cotton, and infusion sets were found to be ‘substandard’ at the Lok Nayak Hospital, Latex examination gloves also failed the quality test. At the DDU Hospital, four surgical equipments were found unqualified acccording to prescibed standards.The FIR alleged that manufacturers used plastic wires in place of Indian Standard (IS) certified cotton threads in the manufacture of the implements supplied to these hospitals.